(Exploitation Retrospect, 1986)
First off, what’s your new book Crackpot about?
Alright, Crackpot, well it’s subtitled “The Obsessions of John Waters,” and basically it’s just about all the things that interest me. You know, before I was paid to be a writer, people thought I was crazy to just go on these little missions of things that would interest me. But now that I get paid to do it, people say, “Oh how interesting.” So, I think that’s really the difference between being a writer and a crackpot. I think some of the subjects in it are, William Castle, Lana Turner’s Hairdresser, Charo’s Plumber, Pia Zadora, “How to Have a Sense of Humor if You Have a Life Sentence in Jail,” The Lecture Circuit, The National Enquirer, Art Movies I Like, Why I Love Christmas, HAIL MARY…lots of different, many varied subjects. Hopefully it’s a humorous book.
Did you come up with the ad line, “Lowbrow fixations elevated shamelessly to a highly original comic manifesto”?
Yeah, I’m good at ad copy.
That’s right up there with THE MUTILATOR with “Bye pick, by hook, by axe, bye bye.”
(laughs) Right.
So, when’s the book going to be coming out?
The book comes out, well the publication date is the middle of October, but it will actually be in the major cities at the beginning of September. It takes six weeks to release a book all over the country, so by October 15 it should be everywhere. It will actually be in New York by September 10.
Great. Are you working on a new film right now?
Well, I have a script, it’s finished, I have a producer and we’re going to start shooting it in the spring. Actually, I’m doing a rewrite on it right now. I had a development deal on this project. The producer is an unnamed investment banker in New York. And it’s, I’m so superstitious to talk about it. I can say that its certainly a comedy, the budget is over a million dollars — which for me is a lot, but for a movie is very little. And I certainly would like Divine and Pia Zadora to star in it.
Continue reading “From Prince to Pope” at Exploitation Retrospect.
